Fela Kuti v Kano - I'm an I.T.T.

This is a more than decent mash-up of Fela's I.T.T. (International Thief Thief) and italo bomb I'm Ready by Kano, and is something that I've never gotten the chance to play out but will probably do so the next time I step up to the decks, whenever that may be. Proper dancefloor tackle for a Saturday.

Fela Kuti v Kano - I'm An I.T.T.

Tony was 18...once!

This was a mix done by my partner-in-crime Paul Hughes for Tony Spaceface's 40th birthday celebrations that apparently went down an absolute storm at the Sally last weekend. Happy birthday Tony, and what a great gift. My 30th is coming up in a week and the gift of music is always welcome. Download the mix here.

Tracklisting - all unashamedly pre-88 party-bangers.

Love International - Dance On The Groove
Izit - Stories (stories mix)
Mano Negra - king kong five
Cry Sisco - Afrodizziact
Duke of Burlington - Flash 83 (dub)
Chris Rea - Josephine (version francais)
Evo e - Esta Amor
Dizzi Heights - Would I Find Love
Kongas - Anikan-o (tom moulton mix)
Mascara - Baja (dub)
Its Immaterial - Driving Away From Home (dead mans curve)
Scarlet Fantastic - No Memory (extra sensory mix)

Marlena Shaw - Woman Of The Ghetto

The first female to be signed to Blue Note, who are celebrating their 70th anniversary this year, Marlena Shaw's deep take on soul mesmerized players and punters alike as she charged up the charts all in her own inimitable style. This cut, Woman Of The Ghetto, was famously being sampled in the 90's by Blueboy on their hit track Remember Me which seemed to be everywhere when it was released on Guidance, and was also sampled by St. Germain on one of my favourite cuts of all-time Rose Rouge at the turn on the century both of which if you haven't heard before you really should seek out. In addition to her time on Blue Note, Marlena has released records on Chess, Cadet, Columbia, Soul Brother, Verve and South Bay the majority of which are absolutely essential for any self-respecting record collector. Marlena was recently honored at the World Wide Awards in London and she continues to seduce with her sultry and dulcet tones the world over. Look beyond the dime-a-dozen pop strumpets littering the airwaves and sink your lugs into the real deal. This is one to play ear-bursting loud.

Marlena Shaw - Woman Of The Ghetto

Joe Crepusculo - Gabriela - El Guincho remix

I know absolutely nothing about Joe Crepusculo beyond, and to be honest this is a guess, that he is Spanish and that his work can be at times very hard to digest, so it is with a huge sigh of relief that El Guincho has gotten his hands on a track and turned into what is admittedly just the right side of cod reggae with an incredibly full sounding reworking. This is just the sort of thing that the Balearic (slowly becoming a dirty word) massive should eat up. One for those days when the sun is shining.

Joe Crepusculo - Gabriela - El Guincho remix

Koushik - Lying In The Sun

Koushik Ghosh is an interesting cat, not content with simply making hip hop he blends a health does of psychedelia in and the results at time are quite breathtaking. He's worked with a number of artists such as Madvillian, Manitoba, Four Tet and many more and has found a home on the increasingly psych-friendly label Stones Throw who have just recently released a great 45 of his. This track, Lying In The Sun, taken from his must have album Out My Window is an adventurous take on the beats cannon and sounds absolutely incredible in the sun, which finally peaked its head out today after a few days of snow. Buy the album, trust me.

Koushik - Lying In The Sun

Daptone Records Broken Into

I've been asked to post this on the blog.

Friends and associates,As you may have heard through the grapevine by now, Daptone was broken into last night. Unfortunately, there was a lot of equipment (mics, pre-amps, monitors, turntables, guitars, amps, computers, etc.) stolen and damaged. It is going to take us a while to go through everything and take full stock of what was stolen, and we are not supposed to touch anything until the cops come back to collect fingerprints so we can only guess what’s missing from some mic drawers and cabinets.

And, no, we did not have insurance. We had been shopping around with different companies earlier this month but had not signed a check, so nothing was insured. We are working on replacing the gate in front, installing an alarm system, and getting insurance, but it is President’s day so it’s not going as quickly as we would have liked. Nydia’s computer was stolen (which wasn’t backed up) and the modems/ phone system was ripped out, so we’ll be relatively out of commission for a few days.

I would like to ask for everyone’s help first in keeping an eye out for all of our stuff showing up on ebay/craigslist/local music shops, and secondly (and more realistically) keeping an eye out for good deals on headphones, mics, pre-amps, etc. I could really use a heads up on any kind of studio package for sale or studio equipment to be possibly bought or borrowed as soon as possible. We have a session scheduled for Friday to lay down some music for (I know this sounds surreal) Rod Stewart, and I’m going to have to get the studio running by then. I know I’m going to need to find headphones, cables, mics, and pre-amps by then. I’m not sure what else yet.

Upon first glance we are definitely missing:
Fender Super Guitar Amp in case
Fender Deluxe Guitar Amp
A whole bunch of headphones and wires
Nydia’s HP laptop computer
One Desktop MacIntosh Computer
One Purple Audio API style lunchbox with
four Purple Audio Biz mic pre-amps
2 Yamaha NS10 monitors
Vintage Harmony Rocket Guitar
One steel string acoustic guitar
Martin Tenor sax in a gig bag
Technics 1200 turntable
Ion USB turntable
Teac Receiver/stereo amp
Sony dual deck CD burner/player
All of our modem/phone system stuff was ripped out and taken.
A whole bunch of condensor and dynamic microphones (I still need to figure out exactly what’s missing)
The power supply for my Trident console was tossed and the board was moved (probably not gently) so the status of that is still questionable.
A baldwin organ was tossed and is probably broken.
Lacie External hard drive.

Over the next few days, as we sort out the rubble, we are going to figure out what else we lost.

We are putting in a roll down front gate, alarm system, and finally getting our insurance happening this week. We are also going to hire a security guard to watch the house for tonight as the cops and alarm guy seemed pretty confident that they will be back with a truck now that they’ve seen what’s in here.

Thanks for keeping eyes open for us. AND PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ALONG TO ANYONE YOU THINK MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP US.

Thankfully, we all still have our health, ambition, tape machines, and sense of humor in tact. You can slow us down, but you can’t stop us. Sleep well knowing we here at Daptone will continue to…

Keep putting Soul up,

Gabriel Roth

You know what to do people! Keep an eye & ear out… any dodgy gear going for.

If you know anything contact the boys through their website.

Sushi

Sushi is by far and away my favourite food and Tokyo is by far and away my favourite city, so this brilliantly simple idea really caught my imagination this afternoon.

A LEGO interpretation of the Obama Innauguration

Simply ace.